Skip To Main Content

Houston Christian University Athletics

OFFICIAL SITE OF HCU ATHLETICS
HCU ATHLETICS
ESPN Plus Logo
03 - AB Garcia (blue)
Juan DeLeon

SB: HCU returns home for midweek clash with Texas Southern

67th meeting all-time between cross-town foes; Huskies return to SLC action on Friday



HCU (11-17 / 5-4 SLC) vs. Texas Southern (7-12 / 7-2 SWAC)   Houston Christian University steps out of conference play for its third midweek contest of the campaign when it hosts Texas Southern University on Tuesday at Husky Field. First pitch between the cross-town foes is scheduled for 5 pm.
 
The Huskies dropped a weekend conference series to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to fall to 11-16 overall and 5-4 in Southland play.
 
Cara Pitman tossed a gem in the series opener, allowing just two hits and fanning four to claim her second shutout of the season in a a 3-0 victory. HCU got all its runs in the first frame on an RBI single from Karlie Barba and a two-run double by Keely Castillo.
 
After cranking out 13 hits in the first game, the bats went silent for the most part in game two. HCU managed just four hits in the second game and four second-inning miscues led to a four-run frame for the Islanders in a 7-0 loss that evened the series.
 
In the Saturday finale, the Islanders jumped on the board with two runs in each of their first two at-bats, forcing the Huskies to play catch-up. HCU got two back in the fifth on a two-run triple by Maddy Bailey, but left the bases loaded in the sixth inning in their final attempt at a rally. Ella Herrewig and Heidi Maytum each had two hits for HCU in the defeat.
 
HCU's offense is led by table-setter AB Garcia, who is sixth in the NCAA in batting average and 12th in the nation in hits. She leads the Huskies in batting average, hits, runs scored, triples, total bases and stolen bases, and ranks first in the Southland in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS and hits while ranking fourth in runs scored, doubles and slugging percentage.
 
The junior centerfielder from Cypress, Texas is now second all-time in stolen bases at HCU with seven on the season to give her 46 for her career. She posted her eighth three-hit game of the season in the Friday opener at TAMUCC to give her 13 multi-hit games on the season and hit safely in all three games of the series to up her hitting streak to a career-best 14 games.
 
Haylie Savage continues to attach herself to the career leaderboards. The senior third baseman from Angleton, Texas is one of just 10 players ever at HCU to hit the century mark in runs driven in (now at 116) and her homer at UTA made her one of just nine players in school history with 20 career home runs. She collected her 170th career hit in the second game of the doubleheader against Northwestern State and sits 9th in career hits and is one of just six players in school history with 40 or more doubles, ranking fifth.
 
Savage moved into ninth place in all-time at-bats against TAMUCC, and is just outside the top 10 in games played, walks and runs scored. SAVAGE has had two separate career-best nine-game hitting streaks this season.
 
The three-time All-SLC selection is batting .369 with seven multi-hit games and ten multi-RBI games and currently ranks second in the league in RBI, ninth in doubles and average, seventh in slugging and eighth in OPS.
 
Maddy Bailey and Ella Herrewig are each batting .344 on the season. Bailey is third on the team in RBI despite missing eight games while Herrewig is second on the club in stolen bases with five. Bailey is on a current 10-game hitting streak and picked up her 50th career hit at UTA and 40th career RBI at TAMUCC. Hanna York is second on the team in RBI with 13, the most for a rookie since the 18 posted by Katy Schaefer in 2018.
 
Cara Pitman tossed her fifth complete game over the weekend while picking up her fifth win of the season to pace the pitching staff. She holds the teams only two shutouts of the campaign as well as the lone save by the staff. Fellow freshman Leah Hammack has four victories and leads the club in innings pitched and strikeouts. The five wins by Pitman and four by Hammack are the most for a frosh since Emma Guindon had nine in 2019.
 
The matchup between HCU and TSU on Tuesday marks the 67th meeting all-time between the two schools. It is the third most-played series in school history, behind only University of the Incarnate Word (88 games) and Northwood University (70 games).
 
TSU comes into the contest with a 7-12 overall mark but a 7-2 ledger in SWAC play after sweeping a three-game home series from Southern University over the weekend. The Tigers are led by Raven Rodriguez, who is now in her fourth season as head coach after serving as interim head coach in 2021.
 
Texas Southern is led on both sides by Kylie Wilson, who is batting .468 with a team-best 14 runs scored and four stolen bases while also pacing TSU in the circle with a 4-2 record, 3.49 ERA and team-high 38.2 innings pitched. Lanay Carr is batting a team-high .524 with three homers and 11 RBI while Karisma Garcia leads the team with 17 RBI on the season.
 
HCU will return to conference action this Friday, beginning a three-game series with Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches.
 
#DawgsUp

 
Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories